Category Archives: Virtual Reality

The Museum of Other Realities (MOR),theimmersive multiplayer art museum for virtual reality, is temporarily open to the public for free in celebration of select British XR artists, who are presenting their works via a special showcase called The Immersive Arcade.

The Immersive Arcade: The Showcaseis being hosted onMOR,which is free to download on Steam from now until March 26th.

To visit the showcase, which is the first of multiple volumes, youll also need to download The Immersive Arcade DLC, which is also free on Steam.

Once youve downloaded both items, you simply need to pop on your SteamVR-compatible headset andhead to The Immersive Arcade showcase on your righthand side. MOR is exclusively available to VR headset users, and there is no 2D option like with other social VR platforms.

The showcase, which was built in partnership with Kaleidoscope and Digital Catapult, features four installations:

These are only the tip of the iceberg in terms of the amount of art installations available on the platform at any given time. In addition to a mind-boggling amount of interactive art, the platform also hosts regular in-game events such as a talk by Drew Skillman and Patrick Hackett ofSkillman & Hackett,the original studiobehind Tilt Brush.

The Museum of Other Realities typically costs $20, so its a great opportunity to get in and get social with fellow art lovers. The app is also available on Rift through the Oculus Storeand SteamVR headsets through Viveport.

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The Museum of Other Realities Free to Visit for The Next 2 Weeks - Road to VR

Virtual reality is soon coming to the casinos market. But how is the introduction of this technology going to change the industry, if at all? Well, there are many ways to approach and look at the idea. Truth be told, you will probably be thrilled to find out more about it. All aspects of the gaming experience will change, too. Playing roulette, for example, would now feel as if you are in actual land-based property and not constrained to your home. There are more benefits down the pipeline we are going to take a proper look at right now.

1. More Immersive Experience

The evident upside of VR in online casinos is the added realism, or shall we say the immersive level of the experience? Either way, we would be right, and virtual reality will shake up many things on the virtual casino floor.

For starters, you will be given the fantastic opportunity to enjoy one of the most rewarding experiences at an online casino when playing your favourite games whether this is slots or roulette.

And it would all come thanks to the fact that there is virtual reality. VR will also become more accessible in the years to come, meaning that the technology is ready to spearhead and spark a mini-revolution in the segment.

2. New Social Experiences

Developing your account and profile will not just be a matter of winning or losing money, acquiring VIP status and more. No, it'd be about the impression you make on your fellow virtual avatars.

VR will spawn a new generation of players who are not there just for the photorealistic game graphics but rather for the opportunity to chat with other people and exchange banter as well as a few stories of their own gaming exploits. All of that put together makes for a very entertaining experience.

3. Fresh Meaning to Promotions

Yes, promotions are fun, but what if you were getting them in virtual reality. Indeed, the promos you get in virtual reality would not be quite the same ones you use in a traditional casino, or would they?

The fact is that promos are bound to change, and this is all for the best. Instead of having to pant under the weight of demanding wagering requirements, you will find more promos that are akin to the traditional bonuses you get in casinos where you are granted chips and asked to play for free and enjoy yourself.

The VR experiences will vary for sure, and the more VR becomes the norm, the more casino operators will come with unique ways of demonstrating how much more fun it can be.

4. Next-Generation Gaming

Naturally, casinos are all about gaming, and as such, there is one elementary truth gaming will be the foremost driver of innovation. Thanks to new VR gaming options, people would be able to explore all sorts of immersive experience and view gaming in a different light.

For starters, slots can be experienced in VR. There are already working games like that. NetEnt, for example, is working on various VR titles that make it so much more fun to play and enjoy the realistic graphics and great gameplay depth.

NetEnt is still not debuting VR games en masse, but it's only a matter of time. Players can expect a mini-revolution of such games heading for online casinos, and there is a whole avenue of opportunities to explore.

We are not too far from the time when personal skill and agility might also determine the outcome of such games and make for fun experiences! VR is a king or going to be king in the foreseeable future of iGaming.

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VR Will Change Casinos: Here Is What You Need to Know - Critical Blast

People in aged care have little chance to get out and see the wider world, but with virtual reality (VR) they can experience the pleasures of travel, exploring and enjoying nature and the built environment all over the world.

Virtual reality provides a simulated experience that can be similar to or completely different from the real world. Participants wear a lightweight helmet which provides the wearer with 360 views of ever changing scenes. Wearers become immersed in the experience and can easily believe they are in the place or situation where the program was made.

Increasingly people only enter residential aged care at the later stages of their lives when they are frail or suffering from dementia. Providing entertainment, socialisation and appropriate therapy can be a major problem.

Technology for Ageing & Disability (TADWA) is a Bassendean-based not-for-profit enterprise working to improve the lives of disabled and elderly people of Western Australian since 1984. It has signed up a partnership with MyndVR, the premier provider of virtual reality (VR) solutions for senior living communities in the United States to provide a similar service to aged care homes all around Australia.

TADWA will be implementing MyndVRs state-of-the-art VR platform in their mission to help older people, people with disabilities, and their carers do what is important to them.

VR allows occupational therapists and technicians to utilise customised headsets, care tablets, and MyndVRs expansive content library powered by Littlstar, a global content network dedicated to virtual reality.

Mike Hamilton, TADWA manager sales and partnerships, said VR is a game changer. Modern hardware with lightweight helmets are easy for people to use in residential aged care.

Modern virtual reality doesnt need a large computer and wiring. Just a tablet computer and headset controlled by WiFi and Bluetooth. Each tablet controls up to five masks simultaneously.

Steve Pretzel, CEO of TADWA, said VR would be used for recreation by people who can no longer get out and experience things.

At TADWA, our focus is on significantly improving the quality of life of our clients, their caregivers, and families through compassion, technological excellence, and innovation.

Age and disability should not define a persons future or detract from leading a meaningful life. When physical mobility is limited, virtual reality can provide a sense of exploration, adventure, and fun.

The MyndVR system provides great content as well as great control functionality. With the benefits of VR becoming better understood, we see a huge opportunity for families and particularly residential care facilities to reduce the impacts of isolation and improve the quality of life for residents.

It might be something on seniors bucket list that they will never be realistically able to do. VR gives the next best possible experience to actually being there.

But VR is not just for entertainment.

VR also provides a more realistic aid to socialising with friends and family members than applications such as Facetime and Zoom. It makes users feel part of the family. It is almost as good as being there.

There are exercise modules that help participants retain their mobility and strength.

VR can also provide distraction to help alleviate anxiety and confusion for people with dementia.

It will take users back to family events, seashore, forest or wilderness environments and help them escape the noise and activity of aged care homes.

We plan to start with easy modules and move on to harder applications, he said.

Mr Hamilton said we want to continue maximise interaction between residents themselves and their families, to revitalise them through remembered family connections and filter out any inappropriate content which might be disturbing to them.

MyndVR initially produced content for Americans but now meets the content needs of a world-wide audience. It produces five or six new programs every month with content depending the feedback they receive.

TADWA also plans to produce local content, for example visits to Fremantle markets or Perth beaches.

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Virtual reality brings new experiences to people in residential aged care - Have a Go News

The Artist Collective of Westport has unveiled its first and very amazing 3D Virtual Reality Gallery and Members Show. This is unlike any other virtual reality art gallery offered by other galleries. It's totally immersive and an exciting way to view art!

No masks or safe distancing required. Open 24/7 with artwork for sale by 87 Collective members. Once the show is concluded it will exist and be viewable from anywhere in the world in perpetuity in the Collective's gallery archive.

To experience this groundbreaking exhibit visit http://www.ArtistsCollectiveofWestport.org and click on "Virtual Exhibit". View on a desktop computer for the best experience.

The Collective commissioned artist/musician Trace Burroughs to develop it after he won the first prize in the Cultural Alliance of Fairfield County Innovation Challenge last July 20.

If you would like a quote on your own 3D VR gallery contact Trace Burroughs at This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.

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The Artist Collective of Westport amazing 3D Virtual Reality gallery - HamletHub

While a lot of experts are predicting for Extended Reality to be the future, the XR headsets, on the other hand, have experienced a considerable decline of 9% (on a year over year basis) in terms of shipments during the year 2020.

These stats have been provided in the latest research coming from Counterpoints Global XR Model Tracker and according to it, this decline was, fortunately, less than the expectations - only because of how the Oculus Quest 2s performance in the market has been a saving grace this holiday season.

Users are now absolutely loving the improvement in specs including more memory, larger battery, higher resolution, and a much better refresh rate. But more importantly, they have loved the device more because of the affordable price tag. Moreover, one can also say that the pandemic played a bigger role as well since the lockdown forced people to look for more forms of entertainment throughout the year.

Precisely, Oculus managed to dominate the XR market with a 53% share in 2020. Not to forget that the gear was already leading from the front with 44% in 2019 as well.

Diving further deep into the market dynamics, Research Director Peter Richardson told that Virtual Reality (VR) headsets comprised 90% of the total XR shipments that took place in the entire year. The adoption of VR is on the rise as the key players of the industry continue to bring advancements in design, specifications, and features while keeping the limitations of cost in mind. This eventually is also backed by the growth of good quality content on these platforms.

So, previously while the users of VR were limited to enjoy gaming only, the pandemic also became a good enough reason for enterprise users (especially in China) to start with the form factor for education or training.

As the infographic shows (featured below), Oculus remained the biggest XR brand throughout 2020. It is followed by Sony at the second spot that took advantage of its strong PlayStation user base that is still enjoying the five-year-old PlayStation VR. HTC, DPVR, and Pico were third, fourth, and fifth respectively.

Oculus stood out in the list of top five XR devices too as three of the most loved headsets belonged to the company. But with that being said, it is expected that we will see strong competition in the upcoming years.

Right now the segment doesnt really witness a lot of new launches when compared to other categories. The reason behind it is very obvious as such innovation still requires improvements in form-factor, display, power, sensor perspective, and also supply chain. But with Apple and Sony (PSVR 2) making their entry, the future does seem to be very bright!

Apart from that, Microsoft and Varjo are also aiming for a wider enterprise-level approach in order to be on top in this segment. Hence, if these companies get successful with their aims, we will see use cases for XR on a bigger scale including field force support, product design and development, construction and fabrication, manufacturing, logistics, education and training, media, healthcare, and many more.

Another way can be to divide the XRs consumer use into VR and AR. By doing so, the VR devices can be dedicated to the strongest use case of gaming, whereas, AR can then be confined to smartphone displays via applications.

All in all, XR will continue to grow double-digits in the next five years.

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Facebook's Oculus Dominates The Extended Reality (XR) Market With More Than 50 Percent Share - Digital Information World

What's OnScottish musicians are being urged to create new immersive concert-going experiences using virtual and augmented reality to mitigate the impact of Brexit, the pandemic and the climate crisis on their work.

Thursday, 11th March 2021, 7:00 am

A new blueprint for the future of the industry suggests venues across the country are fitted out with the latest technology to allow high-quality pay-per-view concerts and events to be beamed around the world via a new Netflix-style streaming platform dedicated to Scottish music.

It urges musicians to embrace new technology amid warnings that if constraints caused by new visa restrictions, concerns about the environmental impact of touring overseas and prolonged Covid-19 restrictions become acute live events as we have come to know them may change dramatically.

The creation of a new streaming service for Scottish music offering acts a much better financial deal than the likes of Spotify or Apple and a new crowd investment fund are suggested to help develop audiences and generate more income for artists.

Other ideas proposed include setting up a dedicated Scottish music export office to offer visa and permit advice to acts, agents and promoters, as well as coordinate trade missions on behalf the sector, and the creation of a Scottish music talent bureau to help new and unsigned acts get off the ground.

The ideas have emerged in Moving Forward, a major report published by the Scottish Music Industry Association (SMIA), the main voice of an industry worth 430 million to the economy in 2019.

The blueprint for the future states that the UKs departure from the European Union and the Covid-19 restrictions which were brought in nearly a year ago had caused a major period of reflection for the sector.

However the report also states that, helped by the dramatic changes in how new music has been produced and consumed, there was now an opportunity for the Scottish music industry to reimagine and reposition itself in such a way as to take a lead into a new and changed set of circumstances for the music industry globally.

It states: If it is the new normal that touring overseas will become more problematic because of Covid-19 constraints, concern about environmental impact and general friction from administrative costs and burdens, should this be embraced as an opportunity to showcase talent differently?

"The growth of live streaming platforms and their acceptability, and indeed preference to many consumers, is already a well established reality in the film and television production sectors.

A series of venues across Scotland equipped with streaming infrastructure which feed directly into a centralised production hub would create a curated and dedicated rolling stream of Scottish music distributed to a global audience.

"Developments in technology present us with ever more enticing and attractive opportunities for creating ever more compelling digital experiences through the use of virtual and augmented reality and real-time, simultaneous collaborations, and so develop much more immersive experiences.

SMIA chair Dougal Perman said: The Scottish music industry is full of creative, entrepreneurial people. In order to move forward, we need to be positive and progressive.

"By adopting an innovative mindset, working together and focusing efforts we can find solutions to our problems and identify and exploit new opportunities.

"We want this report to stimulate new thinking, fresh ideas and highlight ways for us to move forward.

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Netflix-style streaming platform and virtual reality gigs may help Scottish music offset Brexit and Covid impact - The Scotsman

According to this latest study, the 2021 growth of Virtual Reality in Telerehabilitation will have significant change from previous year. This global study of the VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION market offers an overview of the existing market trends, metrics, drivers, and restrictions and also offers a point of view for important segments. The report also tracks product and services demand, analysis, growth and forecasts for the market. There is also to the study view a detailed segmental review. A regional study of the global VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION industry is also carried out in North America, Latin America, Asia-Pacific, Europe, and the Near East & Africa. The research report mentions growth parameters in the regional markets along with major players dominating the regional growth and factors.

Top Companies Covered in this Report:Brontes Processing, Motek Medical, GestureTek Health, Virtualware Group, Motorika, Bridgeway Senior Healthcare, LiteGait, Mindmaze, Doctor Kinetic, Reflexion Health, MIRA Rehab Limited, Hinge Health, SWORD Health

Get sample copy of VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market at: https://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00014024083/sample

VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market Segmentation by Type:Virtual Reality HardwareVisualizing Software

VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market Segmentation by Application:HospitalsCare Homes

The main questions answered in this report are:

Have any query? Enquire about report at: https://www.reportsweb.com/inquiry&RW00014024083/discount

Fundamentals of Table of Content:

1 Report Overview1.1 Study Scope1.2 Key Market Segments1.3 Players Covered1.4 Market Analysis by Type1.5 Market by Application1.6 Study Objectives1.7 Years Considered

2 Global Growth Trends2.1 VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market Size2.2 VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Growth Trends by Regions2.3 Industry Trends

3 Market Share by Key Players3.1 VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market Size by Manufacturers3.2 VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Key Players Head office and Area Served3.3 Key Players VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Product/Solution/Service3.4 Date of Enter into VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Market3.5 Mergers & Acquisitions, Expansion Plans

4 Breakdown Data by Product4.1 Global VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Sales by Product4.2 Global VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Revenue by Product4.3 VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Price by Product

5 Breakdown Data by End User5.1 Overview5.2 Global VIRTUAL REALITY IN TELEREHABILITATION Breakdown Data by End User

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Virtual Reality in Telerehabilitation Market to Evolve in Near Future 2026 by focuses on major key players Brontes Processing, Motek Medical,...

In a year that forced changes in nearly all of accounting firms day-to-day operations, hiring and onboarding processes were among the most impacted. The usually personal and hands-on experience of finding, engaging and acclimating new talent was transformed into a virtual one nearly overnight, and as they did with so many other things, firms had to adapt on the fly.

Even in normal times, firms of all sizes often have an urgent need to bring aboard fresh talent, and while the COVID-19 pandemic drastically complicates matters, firms are still seeking out job candidates.

We are now seeing activity pick up in many areas and have seen demand for accounting professionals relatively consistently even with the uncertainty of the pandemic, said Michael Steinitz, senior executive director of accounting staffing agency Accountemps. Many companies were able to quickly and almost seamlessly move operations to remote and keep their accounting and finance teams and functions operating efficiently.

In some ways, the move to remote work may actually have boosted firms abilities to reach candidates.

When the employer stops caring where the staff works, and begins to hire remote, our clients see large upticks in resumes for those remote positions about eight times more than for location-specific jobs, said Jeff Phillips, co-founder and CEO of recruiting platform Accountingfly.

So many of our clients started hiring fully remote, continued Phillips, who is also CEO of accounting and business consulting services provider Padgett Business Services. Firms that opened up to fully remote work like this had an easier time hiring they were talking to a larger amount of high-quality applicants and filling open roles faster.

For some firms, traditional recruiting methods were still able to work to their advantage.

LinkedIn provided most of our candidates last year, said Sarah Taylor, recruiting director at Austin, Texas- based Maxwell Locke & Ritter, which ranked No. 2 among midsized firms onAccounting Todays 2020 list of the Best Firms to Work For. Forty-one percent of our total hires came from LinkedIns sponsored job postings and/or the LinkedIn Recruiter platform. After LinkedIn, our internship program was our next significant source for new hires in 2020. We hired five interns for full-time roles, which is very unusual for our firms experienced-hire model. Prior to this year, we had only transitioned a handful of interns to full-time staff immediately after graduation.

Believe it or not, campus recruiting still brought in candidates for some firms last year albeit there, too, the effort was much more digital.

Our recruiting teams had to work extra hard to be more resourceful in how they worked with potential candidates, said Katrina Thompson, managing director of human resources at Top 20 Firm Dixon Hughes Goodman. On the campus recruiting side, we pivoted our efforts to be completely virtual. We actually experienced higher conversion rates of our summer 2020 interns, and we think that was largely due to how we were able to successfully pivot.

We embraced the virtual world, hosting virtual career fairs and events, and utilized innovative platforms to reach candidates, Thompson continued. These tactics have been effective for both our campus efforts and experienced hire efforts.

Welcome aboard (kind of)

Once that new hire has been found, a whole new challenge emerges in introducing and acclimating them to a team that may be spread out over a city, state, or even the whole country. As the vast majority of firms spent 2020 in a work-from-home capacity, how did firm leaders reach out and successfully welcome new employees into the fold?

One of the biggest challenges we faced across campus and experienced-hire onboarding was how to make new hires feel connected and engaged with the firm and their new colleagues, said Thompson. We were able to integrate a mix of games, questions and open discussion to create the level of connection and engagement we were used to in-person.

Remote staff can feel isolated, and starting new hires remotely can miss a lot of the socialization that normally occurs, added Phillips. We recommend having existing staff reach out to new hires before they start to welcome them to the team hosting welcome meetings over Zoom to introduce the new hire to the team, and assigning a mentor/buddy to make sure the new hire knows the team and gets what they need.

It may come as no surprise that the practices that found themselves well-prepared for 2020 are those that had embraced a more tech-forward approach prior to the pandemic.

We achieved our goal of providing an experience similar to our in-person onboarding experience for new hires with only minor changes, said Taylor. Prior to the pandemic, we transitioned to virtual onboarding sessions for our general firm orientation, so we were well-positioned to continue with virtual experienced-hire onboarding. Our technology team quickly pivoted to provide equipment at home and assist with virtual setups. For our campus hires, we created smaller cohorts, so they were all able to feel connected to one another.

The virtual environment [further] prompted us to upgrade our onboarding experience, she added. We recorded our training sessions and now have an online training library which gives new hires a resource to refer to as they transition to our team.

Being ahead of the game is ideal, but even if firms have to play catch-up in terms of virtual hiring and onboarding, it might not be as difficult or time-consuming as they may think.

Its been incredible how quickly organizations have shifted strategies to account for remote hiring and onboarding, said Accountemps Steinitz. Weve seen companies adapt quickly to create playbooks and onboard new hires virtually, and its been very successful.

PhonlamaiPhoto/Getty Images/iStockphoto

Casting a wider net

Firms will also have to reckon with the idea of what a post-pandemic business could and should be. Having had a taste of remote work, some staff may find they like their new work situations better.

Phillips cited a survey by online job platform LiveCareer that found 29 percent of working professionals would quit their jobs if they couldnt continue to work remotely.

Its my opinion that even after we fully recover, high-performing staff will demand to spend more, or all, of their time working from home, said Phillips. This change could be a challenge for CPA firms looking to return everyone with the office.

Hire virtual staff anywhere [across the country] for permanent and seasonal positions, Phillips advised. You will cut your time and cost to fill critical roles in half.

And despite a wounded economy and troubling employment numbers, hiring is indeed marching on. Steinitz pointed to a recent Robert Half survey of more than 4,000 managers that found that 51 percent of companies still plan to expand their teams in 2021, adding that how [firms] work may be different, but the volume of work continues.

Companies that were previously averse to offering flexibility and remote work for employees will now be open to it permanently, said Steinitz. This will be an expectation of workers moving forward, and businesses have shifted mindsets. Organizations are increasingly adopting a remote-first approach, and theyre realizing the value of recruiting outside their city.

Employers who accelerate the hiring process by having fewer rounds of interviews or fewer interviewers, for example put themselves ahead of the competition, Steinitz added. Research compensation trends regularly and be prepared to come to the table with a competitive offer, and increase your odds of attracting top talent by offering fully remote job opportunities and expanding your candidate search geographically.

Whats next?

While the last year and a half has brought much undeniable hardship, there has been some silver lining in embracing new ways of hiring, including expanded ideas about how firms can hire, who they hire, and where they can hire.

After the pandemic forced us to shift all interviews to the virtual setting, our team discovered that we can hire fantastic people without meeting them in person, and the virtual interview experience is just as positive, engaging and fun as it is in the office, said Taylor. As a firm that engages with significant out-of-area candidates, shifting to virtual interviews has been extremely beneficial; we have improved the candidate experience and made our recruitment processes more time- and cost-efficient.

I am 100 percent sure things will permanently change post-pandemic, said Thompson. The biggest happy accident of this entire pandemic was observing how resilient and resourceful people are. From a recruiting perspective, we learned how much we could do virtually that we previously did not think was possible; it actually removed some barriers and allowed us to be more places and reach more students. I do believe these will be permanent, and positive, changes.

As a profession, we have been talking about the future of work for a while, added Thompson. That future arrived sooner than we expected, due in part to technology advances and the intentionality we had to have with leading people and connecting.

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Staffing: The new virtual reality - Accounting Today

Wed, 03/03/2021 - 11:07am | By: Karelia Pitts

Faculty in The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) School of Education have been teaching future educators for more than 100 years, but never before have they been afforded virtual reality technology to enhance learning and practicum experiences.

With support from the Governors Emergency Education Response (GEER) Fund program through the Coronavirus Aid, Relief and Economic Security (CARES) Act Education Stabilization Fund, Southern Miss students are gaining valuable, hands-on teaching experiences in a virtual classroom for the first time.

Having access to a virtual learning environment gives our teaching candidates an opportunity to work with the latest in simulation technology while providing them with a safe environment to practice skills which are needed in both traditional and online classrooms, said Dr. Noal Cochran, interim director and teaching professor of educational administration in the School of Education and associate dean for educator preparation in the College of Education and Human Sciences. We look forward to this innovative partnership and the many opportunities it will offer our students.

In 2020, the U.S. Department of Education awarded GEER funding to the nations governors to address the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on students and parents across America. Mississippi received an allocation of $34.6 million for proposals designed to prevent, prepare for and respond to the novel coronavirus.

After watching upperclassmen education majors at USM struggle to complete their practicum experiences due to the pandemic, Drs. Audra Classen, Hollie Filce and Anne Sylvest composed a grant proposal for the GEER Fund program. Their innovative educational solution was awarded $115,736 and will transform the practicum experiences of hundreds of undergraduate teacher candidates at USM in the spring and fall 2021 terms.

Through a partnership with the AVATAR Lab at Kennesaw State University (KSU), the Golden Eagles Teaching in Virtual Reality (GET-VR) program utilizes state-of-the-art technology to create an immersive, mixed-reality environment for students to practice and master their skills. Funds are being used to implement training scenarios and VR simulations focused on high-leverage teaching practices. Southern Miss students are among the first in the nation to participate in these simulations developed by KSU and the Collaboration for Effective Educator Development, Accountability and Reform (CEEDAR) Center at the University of Florida.

During a typical year, I oversee practicum experiences and teacher candidacy for approximately 400 undergraduates at USM. In 2020, many of these students had dramatically less time in field placements for their practicum courses due to obstacles resulting from the coronavirus pandemic, said Dr. Anne Sylvest, director of educational field experiences at USM. Concurrently, enrollment in practicum courses has increased, pushing the limits of what our faculty can reasonably manage. Our goal for GET-VR is to help offset the impact of COVID on our intermediate and senior block students practicum experiences by providing targeted training and practice in a virtual environment.

The AVATAR Lab delivers customized training scenarios that present professional challenges graduates will encounter on the job. Simulations focus on collaborating with families to support student learning and secure needed services, using student assessment data to analyze instructional practices and make necessary adjustments that improve student outcomes, using explicit instruction and strategies to promote active student engagement, and establishing consistent, organized and respectful classroom environments. The avatars are programmed to interact as second grade through high school students with a range of abilities and personalities, including an advanced student, an introvert, a rule-follower and a class clown.

While nothing can replace live interactions with students in our local educational settings, the coronavirus has forced K-12 schools to dramatically change their operational procedures, severely limiting opportunities for our teacher candidates. GET-VR will aid these students in gaining a deeper understanding of high-leverage practices critical to their ultimate success as teachers, said Dr. Hollie Filce, professor and coordinator of special education programs. This technology offers a safe space for our teacher candidates to practice teaching and receive feedback, so they learn from their mistakes and grow more confident managing their own classrooms in the future.

Southern Miss students are excited about the possibilities this new technology offers, including special education major Amber Taylor from Ocean Springs, Miss.

Im extremely grateful that our professors at USM saw our need, developed a plan and secured the best technology available so our student body can excel, said Taylor. They say 10 minutes of virtual reality teaching is like 45 minutes of teaching in-person because so many experiences are strategically packed into each session. I feel very blessed to be in this program because we have everything we need to succeed.

For more information about the College of Education and Human Sciences, visit http://www.usm.edu/education-human-sciences. To learn more about the School of Education, visit http://www.usm.edu/education.

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USM Offers Education Majors Virtual Reality Teaching Experience - Southern Miss Now

For years, Cirque du Soleil co-founder Guy Lalibert received countless proposals for virtual reality technologies, but they couldnt match the magic of his intensely visual and mesmerizing live performances. Now, with a new platform provided by Microsoft, hes rethinking that.

On Tuesday, he appeared at Microsofts Ignite digital conference via holoportation, which uses 3D capture technology to beam a lifelike image of a person into a virtual scene. In the companys first keynote experience designed entirely for mixed reality, people attending the conference from living rooms and home offices around the world could experience the show as avatars watching events unfold in a shared holographic world.

It was the companys first opportunity to showcase some of the experiences made possible by Microsoft Mesh, a new mixed-reality platform powered by Azure that allows people in different physical locations to join collaborative and shared holographic experiences on many kinds of devices.

This has been the dream for mixed reality, the idea from the very beginning, said Microsoft Technical Fellow Alex Kipman. You can actually feel like youre in the same place with someone sharing content or you can teleport from different mixed reality devices and be present with people even when youre not physically together.

Kipman appeared on the Ignite virtual stage as a fully realized holoportation of himself, narrating the shows opening experience in real time as rays of light that simulated his physical body.

James Cameron, the filmmaker and ocean explorer, and John Hanke, CEO and founder of leading augmented reality company Niantic, Inc., also joined Kipman remotely to spotlight how Microsoft Mesh is helping them create shared experiences across the virtual and physical worlds.

Lalibert chatted with Kipman about a new collaboration to help Lune Rouge, another company Lalibert founded, realize a project called Hanai World. Its a social mixed reality platform that hes thought about for years which would connect live and digital entertainment experiences into single events but only now have technologies like Microsoft Mesh caught up with that vision.

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Microsoft Mesh will also enable geographically distributed teams to have more collaborative meetings, conduct virtual design sessions, assist others, learn together and host virtual social meetups. People will initially be able to express themselves as avatars in these shared virtual experiences and over time use holoportation to project themselves as their most lifelike, photorealistic selves, the company said.

The new platform is the result of years of Microsoft research and development in areas ranging from hand and eye tracking and HoloLens development to creating persistent holograms and artificial intelligence models that can create expressive avatars.

Built on Azure, Microsofts cloud computing platform, Microsoft Mesh also benefits from Azures enterprise-grade security and privacy features, as well as its vast computational resources, data, AI and mixed reality services.

More and more we are building value in our intelligent cloud, which is Azure, Kipman said. In these collaborative experiences, the content is not inside my device or inside my application. The holographic content is in the cloud, and I just need the special lenses that allow me to see it.

With Microsoft Mesh-enabled applications, designers or engineers who work with 3D physical models anything from bicycles to high-end furniture to jet engines to new sports stadiums could appear as themselves in a shared virtual space to collaborate and iterate on holographic models, regardless of their physical location.

Architects and engineers could physically walk through a holographic model of a factory floor under construction, seeing how all the pieces of equipment fit together in three dimensions, potentially avoiding costly mistakes.

Engineering or medical students learning about electric car engines or human anatomy could gather as avatars around a holographic model and remove parts of the engine or peel back muscles to see whats underneath. Colleagues could simply get together and chat in a shared virtual space, or companies could use Microsoft Mesh-enabled apps to offer virtual all-hands meetings or trainings to employees around the world.

The Microsoft Mesh platform will in coming months offer developers a full suite of AI-powered tools for avatars, session management, spatial rendering, synchronization across multiple users and holoportation to build collaborative solutions in mixed reality, the company said.

Though users will have the richest experiences in mixed or virtual reality, Microsoft Meshs open standards will give developers the freedom to build solutions that will work across many different devices: HoloLens 2, a range of virtual reality headsets, smartphones, tablets and PCs.

At Ignite, Microsoft announced two apps built on the Microsoft Mesh platform.

Those include a preview of the Microsoft Mesh app for HoloLens, which allows team members to remotely collaborate and is available for download. Customers can also request access to a new version of Mesh-enabled AltspaceVR, which will allow companies to hold meetings and work gatherings in virtual reality with enterprise-grade security features including secure sign-ins, session management and privacy compliance.

Over time, the company said it expects customers will be able to choose from a growing set of Microsoft Mesh-enabled applications built by external developers and partners, and also to benefit from planned integration with Microsoft products such as Microsoft Teams and Dynamics 365.

This is why weve been so passionate about mixed reality as the next big medium for collaborative computing, Kipman said. Its magical when two people see the same hologram.

On board OceanXplorer, one of the most advanced research and deep sea exploration vessels ever built, theres only so much room to host all the scientists clamoring to learn from new data constantly collected by instruments and cameras on its deep sea vehicles that can probe everything from coral reefs and brine pools to sea life around deep hydrothermal vents and minerals around underwater volcanoes.

At Ignite, OceanX, a nonprofit that merges cutting edge science with compelling storytelling and product and technology experiences to support ocean education and awareness, announced a new collaboration with Microsoft to create a Mesh-enabled holographic laboratory on the ship that scientists could gather in either in person or virtually from labs and offices around the world to see 3D holograms of the areas the vehicles are exploring.

Researchers trying to figure out why sperm whales hunt in certain areas, for instance, might see a holographic representation of a deep sea canyon with data collected from tags put on the whales, overlaid with information about salinity, temperature and ocean chemistry changes and integrated with data from fish finders showing where squid and other prey might be.

The idea is to take all this amazing scientific data were collecting and bring it into a holographic setting and use it as a way to guide scientific missions in real time, said Vincent Pieribone, vice chairman of OceanX.

The goal is to allow any researcher with a HoloLens 2 or other compatible device, using Microsoft Mesh, to appear around a table as an avatar and point to a particular area on the holographic seafloor that they might have a question about and converse in real time with other scientists about what they are seeing.

On OceanXs research missions, there are often groups of people huddled around video feeds, posing questions and having sidebar conversations with their colleagues. Researchers who arent on the boat, even if theyre watching the same footage on a screen in their office, dont always benefit from those interactions, Pieribone said.

Theres a social component to this thats essential, he said. We want to bring everyone into the same room so they can bounce things off of each other and have that human connection.

To expand on an entirely different kind of exploration, Niantic demonstrated at Ignite a proof-of-concept Pokmon GO demo experience that runs on HoloLens 2. It was designed to showcase the vision for a new collaboration that will build on Microsofts and Niantics mixed and augmented reality capabilities.

In the demonstration, which does not represent a consumer product, Hanke and a bevy of Pokmon at his favorite park were joined by Veronica Saron, product marketing manager for Pokmon GO, to battle in a shared mixed-reality session.

Niantics mission is to create technologies that allow people to socialize and explore the world together, Hanke said, whether thats kids using Pokmon GO to explore their neighborhoods with parents or friends, or thousands of people gathering at parks for festivals.

Microsoft Mesh offers a whole new way of doing that, he said. This notion of bringing my virtual friends along with me as I go out and walk and explore the world I just love that concept and Im really interested to see what we can do with that.

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You can actually feel like you're in the same place: Microsoft Mesh powers shared experiences in mixed reality | Innovation Stories - Microsoft